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No 204 Squadron RAF
Active	Royal Naval Air Service 23 March 1915 – 15 October 1915 31 December 1916 – 1 April 1918 Royal Air Force 1 - April 1918 - 31 December 1919 1 February 1929 – 30 June 1945 1 August 1947 – 20 February 1953 1 January 1954 – 1 April 1971 1 April 1971 – 1 May 1972
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Motto(s)	Latin: Praedam mari quaero ("I seek my prey in the sea")
Battle honours	Home Waters, 1915 Western Front, 1917–18 Atlantic, 1940–45 Norway, 1940 Arctic, 1941
Insignia
Squadron Badge heraldry	On water barry wavy, a mooring buoy, thereon a cormorant displayed The badge is based upon a photograph made by Aircraftsman T.E. Shaw (Lawrence of Arabia)
Squadron Codes	RF (Apr 1939 – Sep 1939) KG (Sep 1939 – 1943) T (Jan 1954 – 1956)

No. 204 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit first formed in March 1915 as No.4 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service.

First World War

No. 4 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service was formed on 25 March 1915 at Dover, Kent, from the former RNAS Defence Flight. In August 1915 the squadron moved to Eastchurch where it was re-designated as No. 4 Wing RNAS. The squadron was reformed on 31 December 1916 at Coudekerque just outside Dunkirk, France to operate the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, a multirole biplane. In March 1917 the squadron re-equipped with the Sopwith Pup biplane fighter aircraft, before it moved to Bray-Dunes, not far away on the French-side of the Franco-Belgian border. In June 1917 the squadron re-equipped again with the Sopwith Camel, a biplane fighter aircraft and Sopwith Pup successor.

In January 1918 the squadron made a temporary move to Walmer in Kent to rest and refit before returning to the front at Bray-Dunes in March 1918. On the formation of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918 the squadron was re-designated No. 204 Squadron. The squadron moved around some of the aerodromes around Dunkirk before settling at Téteghem in May 1918. In October 1918 the squadron moved forward to Heule in Flanders until the end of the First World War. In February 1919 its personal returned to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, England, before being disbanded in December 1919.

Reformation

The squadron was reformed on 1 February 1929, when the coastal reconnaissance flight based at RAF Cattewater (later RAF Mount Batten), Plymouth, equipped with five Supermarine Southampton flying boats, was renumbered. It carried out a regular routine of training, interspersed with a series of formation cruises, including one to the Mediterranean in 1932 and to the Baltic the next year.

It re-equipped with Supermarine Scapa, a general reconnaissance flying boat, to replace the elderly Southampton flying boats from August 1935, and in September, it transferred to Aboukir, in Egypt, as part of the United Kingdom's response to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, remaining there until August 1936, when the Squadron returned to Plymouth. It again re-equipped, this time with Saro London flying boats, from October that year. The squadron continued its routine of training and formation cruises, visiting Gibraltar in August 1937, and visiting Australia to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Sydney in 1938, being away from Britain from December 1937 to April 1938.

Second World War

The squadron re-equipped with Short Sunderland monoplane flying boat patrol bombers in June 1939, passing its Saro London biplane flying boats to 240 Squadron. In September 1939, following the start of the Second World War, the squadron began flying convoy escort missions and anti-submarine patrols over the Western approaches. The squadron moved to RAF Sullom Voe, in the Shetland Isles of Scotland, in April 1940, carrying out patrols off the coast of Norway as a result of the German invasion of Norway.

In April 1941 the squadron moved to Reykjavík, Iceland, flying maritime patrols over the North Atlantic for five months. In August the squadron's Short Sunderland flying boats flew to Gibraltar, where they were based for two weeks before moving on to Bathurst (now Banjul), The Gambia to counter the activity of German Navy submarines in the busy shipping lanes off West Africa. It remained at Bathurst until 30 June 1945, when it disbanded.

The squadron lost 19 Short Sunderland flying boats during the Second World War. No Axis submarines were sunk by the squadron, although it did claim at least one Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88, a multi-role combat aircraft, shot down.

Transport squadron

On 1 August 1947 the squadron was reformed at RAF Station Kabrit, Egypt as a transport squadron and flew Douglas Dakota military transport aircraft, until these were replaced by Vickers Valetta, in July 1949. On 20 February 1953, the squadron was disbanded by being renumbered to No. 84 Squadron RAF.

Return to maritime operations

The squadron was reformed once more on 1 January 1954 at RAF Ballykelly, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and was equipped with Avro Shackleton, a long-range maritime patrol aircraft.

In 1965, Ian Smith's Rhodesian minority white government made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, leading to United Nations sanctions against what was up until then a British colony. One of the major thrusts of this action was to try and deprive the country of oil. Being land-locked, Rhodesia relied on a pipeline through Mozambique from the port of Beira. Up until 1972, the sanctions were applied by the Royal Navy working with the RAF, which undertook reconnaissance flights of the Beira Straits from its base in Madagascar. The RAF was located at the airfield close to the port of Majunga, on the north-west coast of Madagascar. No. 204 Squadron was the unit tasked with this responsibility, just prior to the evacuation and closure of the base in March 1972. It operated a detachment of two Avro Shackleton Mk.2. The last flight took place on 17 March 1972. The squadron was disbanded on 28 April 1972.

Aircraft operated

Squadron bases

Commanding officers

Notes

1. ^ Halley 1988, p. 265.
2. ^ Jefford 2001, p. 71.
3. ^ Halley 1973, p. 5.
4. ^ Halley 1988, p. 264.
5. ^ Rawlings 1982, p. 133.
6. Halley 1973, p. 8.
7. ^ Rawlings 1978, p. 320.
8. Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 13.
9. Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 61.
10. Bowyer and Rawlings 1979, p. 127.
11. ^ Jefford 1998, p. 68
12. ^ Sturtivant and Page 1992, p. 433
13. Halley 1973, p. 59.
14. Halley 1973, pp. 59–60.
15. Halley 1973, pp. 60–61, 63.
16. Halley 1973, pp. 63–64.
17. Rickard, J. No. 204 Squadron (RAF):Second World War". www.historyofwar.org. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
18. Halley 1973, pp. 60–64.
19. ^ Rawlings 1982, p. 134.
20. ^ Halley 1973, p. 68.

References

• Halley, James J. Famous Maritime Squadrons of the RAF, Volume 1. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Hylton Lacy Publishers Ltd., 1973. ISBN 0-85064-101-2.
• Halley, James J. The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918–1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. ISBN 0-85130-164-9.
• Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.
• Jefford, C.G. RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912, first edition 1998, Airlife Publishing, UK, ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
• Lewis, Peter. Squadron Histories: R.F.C, R.N.A.S and R.A.F., 1912–59. London: Putnam, 1959.
• Rawlings, John D.R. Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. ISBN 0-7106-0187-5.
• Rawlings, John D.R. Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1969 (new edition 1976, reprinted 1978). ISBN 0-354-01028-X.
• Sturtivant, Ray and Gordon Page. Royal Navy Aircraft Serials and Units 1911–1919. Tonbridge: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1992. ISBN 0-85130-191-6.

External links

• RAF Squadron history
• Squadron histories for nos. 201–205 sqn on RafWeb's Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation

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Australian Flying Corps units attached to the RAF during the First World War	67 (1 Sqn AFC) 68 (2 Sqn AFC) 69 (3 Sqn AFC) 71 (4 Sqn AFC)
Article XV (Commonwealth) air force units attached to the RAF during the Second World War	Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 466 467 Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) 485 486 487 488 489 490
squadrons formed from non-Commonwealth personnel during the Second World War	Argentine 164 Belgian 349 350 Czechoslovak 310 311 312 313 Dutch 320 (Netherlands) 321 (Netherlands) 322 (Dutch) French 326 327 328 329 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 Greek 13 335 336 Norwegian 330 331 332 333 334 Polish 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 315 316 317 318 663 United States 71 121 133 Yugoslav 351 352
Royal Auxiliary Air Force	Special Reserve 500 501 502 503 504 Auxiliary Air Force 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 622
Fleet Air Arm of the RAF (1924–1939)	712 715 718 800 801 802 803 810 811 812 813 814 820 821 822 823 824 825
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